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<TITLE> Section I - Introduction</TITLE>
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<h1>Section I - What would an anarchist society look like?</h1>
<p>
So far this FAQ has been largely critical, focusing on hierarchy,
capitalism, the state and so on, and the problems to which they have
led, as well as refuting some bogus <i>"solutions"</i> that have been offered
by authoritarians of both the right and the left. It is now time to
examine the constructive side of anarchism -- the libertarian-socialist
society that anarchists envision. This is important because anarchism
is essentially a <b>constructive</b> theory, in stark contradiction to the
picture of usually painted of anarchism as chaos or mindless destruction.
<p>
Therefore, in this section of the FAQ we will give a short outline of what
an anarchist society might look like. Such a society has basic features --
such as being non-hierarchical, decentralised and, above all else,
spontaneous like life itself. To quote Glenn Albrecht, anarchists <i>"lay
great stress on the free unfolding of a spontaneous order without the
use of external force or authority."</i> [<i>"Ethics, Anarchy and Sustainable
Development"</i>, <b>Anarchist Studies</b>, vol.2, no.2, p. 110] This type of
development implies that anarchist society would be organised from the
simple to the complex, from the individual upwards to the community, the
bio-region and, ultimately, the planet. The resulting complex and diverse
order, which would be the outcome of nature freely unfolding toward
greater diversity and complexity, is ethically preferable to any other
sort of order simply because it allows for the highest degree of organic
solidarity and freedom. Kropotkin described this vision of a truly free
society as follows:
<p><blockquote>
<i>"We foresee millions and millions of groups freely constituting themselves
for the satisfaction of all the varied needs of human beings. . . All
these will be composed of human beings who will combine freely. . .
'Take pebbles,' said Fourier, 'put them in a box and shake them, and
they will arrange themselves in a mosaic that you could never get by
instructing to anyone the work of arranging them harmoniously.'"</i>
[<b>The Place of Anarchism in Socialistic Evolution</b>, pp. 11-12]
</blockquote><p>
Anarchist opposition to hierarchy is an essential part of a
<i>"spontaneously ordered"</i> society, for authority stops the free
development and growth of the individual. From this natural growth
of individuals, groups and society as a whole anarchists expect a
society which meets the needs of all (both for material goods and
individual and social freedom). In Proudhon's words, <i>"liberty is the
mother of order, not its daughter."</i> Any attempt to force society
or individuals into a pre-determined structure which restricts their
liberty will produce dis-order as natural balances and development
is hindered and distorted in anti-social and destructive directions.
Thus an anarchist society must be a free society of free individuals,
associating within libertarian structures, rather than a series of
competing hierarchies (be they political or economical). Only in
freedom can society and individuals develop and create a just and
fair society.
<p>
As the individual does not exist in a social vacuum, appropriate social
conditions are required for individual freedom (and so subjectivity, or
thought) to develop and blossom according to its full potential. The
theory of anarchism is built around the central assertion that individuals
and their organisations <b>cannot</b> be considered in isolation from each
other. As Carole Pateman points out, there is <i>"the argument that there is
an interrelationship between the authority structures of institutions and
the psychological qualities and attitudes of individuals, and . . . the
related argument that the major function of participation is an educative
one."</i> [<b>Participation and Democratic Theory</b>, p. 27] Anarchism presents
these arguments in their most coherent and libertarian form. In other words,
freedom is only sustained and protected by activity under conditions of
freedom, namely self-government. Freedom is the only precondition for
acquiring the maturity required for continued freedom.
<p>
As individual freedom can only be created, developed and defended
by self-government and free association, a system which encourages
individuality must be decentralised and participatory in order for
people to develop a psychology that allows them to accept the
responsibilities of self-management. Living under capitalism or
any other authoritarian system produces a servile character, as
the individual is constantly placed under hierarchical authority,
which blunts their critical and self-governing abilities by lack
of use. Such a situation cannot promote freedom. Looking at
capitalism, we find that under wage labour, people sell their
creative energy and control over their activity for a given
period. The boss does not just take surplus value from the
time employees sell, but the time itself -- their ability to make
their own decisions, express themselves through work and with their
fellow workers. Wage labour equals wage slavery. You sell your time
and skills (i.e. liberty) everyday at work to someone else. You
will never be able to buy that time back for yourself. Once it is
gone; it is gone for good. This is why anarchists see the need to
<i>"create the situation where each person may live by working freely,
without being forced to sell his [or her] work and his [or her]
liberty to others who accumulate wealth by the labour of their
serfs."</i> [Kropotkin, <b>Words of a Rebel</b>, p. 208]
<p>
Anarchism is about changing society and abolishing all forms
of authoritarian social relationship, putting life before the
soul-destroying "efficiency" needed to survive under capitalism;
for the anarchist <i>"takes his stand on his positive right to life
and all its pleasures, both intellectual, moral and physical. He
loves life, and intends to enjoy it to the full."</i> [Michael Bakunin,
quoted by Brian Morris, <b>Bakunin: The Philosophy of Freedom</b>, p. 118]
<p>
Anarchists think that the essential social values are human values, and
that society is a complex of associations held together by the wills of
their members, whose well-being is its purpose. They consider that it is
not enough that the forms of association should have the passive or
<i>"implied"</i> consent of their members, but that the society and the
individuals who make it up will be healthy only if it is in the full
sense libertarian, i.e. self-governing, self-managed, and egalitarian.
This implies not only that all the members should have a <i>"right"</i> to
influence its policy if they so desire, but that the greatest possible
opportunity should be afforded for every person to exercise this right.
Anarchism involves an active, not merely passive, citizenship on the part
of society's members and holds that this principle is not only applied to
some <i>"special"</i> sphere of social action called <i>"politics"</i> but to any and
every form of social action, including economic activity.
<p>
So, as will be seen, the key concept underlying both the social/political
and the economic structure of libertarian socialism is <i>"self-management,"</i>
a term that implies not only workers control of their workplaces
but also citizens' control of their communities (where it becomes
<i>"self-government"</i>), through direct democracy and voluntary federation.
Thus self-management is the positive implication of anarchism's
<i>"negative"</i> principle of opposition to hierarchical authority. For through
self-management, hierarchical authority is dissolved as self-managing
workplace and community assemblies/councils are decentralised, <i>"horizontal"</i>
organisations in which each participant has an equal voice in the
decisions that affect his or her life, instead of merely following orders
and being governed by others. Self-management, therefore, is the essential
condition for a world in which individuals will be free to follow their
own dreams, in their own ways, co-operating together as equals without
interference from any form of authoritarian power (such as government
or boss).
<p>
Perhaps needless to say, this section is intended as a heuristic
device <b>only</b>, as a way of helping readers envision how anarchist
principles might be embodied in practice. They are not (nor are
they intended to be, nor are they desired to be) a definitive
statement of how they <b>must</b> be embodied. The idea that a few
people could determine exactly what a free society would look
like is contrary to the anarchist principles of free growth
and thought, and is far from our intention. Here we simply try
to indicate some of the structures that an anarchist society may
contain, based on the what ideals and ideas anarchists hold and
the few examples of anarchy in action that have existed and our
critical evaluation of their limitations and successes.
<p>
Of course, an anarchist society will not be created overnight
nor without links to the past, and so it will initially include
structures created in social struggle (i.e. created <b>within</b>
but <b>against</b> capitalism and the state -- see
<a href="secJ5.html">section J.5</a>) and
will be marked with the ideas that inspired and developed within
that struggle. For example, the anarchist collectives in Spain
were organised in a bottom-up manner, similar to the way the
C.N.T. (the anarcho-syndicalist labour union) was organised before
the revolution. In this sense, anarchy is not some distant goal
but rather an expression of working class struggle. The creation
of alternatives to the current hierarchical, oppressive, exploitative
and alienated society is a necessary part of the class struggle and
the maintaining of your liberty and humanity in the insane world of
hierarchical society. As such, an anarchist society will be the
generalisation of the various types of <b><i>"anarchy in action"</i></b>
created
in the various struggles against all forms of oppression and
exploitation (see <a href="secI2.html#seci23">section I.2.3</a>).
<p>
This means that how an anarchist society would look like and work is not
independent of the means used to create it. In other words, an anarchist
society will reflect the social struggle which preceded it and the ideas
which existed within that struggle as modified by the practical needs of
any given situation. Therefore the vision of a free society indicated in
this section of the FAQ is not some sort of abstraction which will be
created overnight. If anarchists did think that then we would rightly
be called utopian. No, an anarchist society is the outcome of activity and
social struggle, struggle which helps to create a mass movement which
contains individuals who can think for themselves and are willing and able
to take responsibility for their own lives (see section J -
<a href="secJcon.html"><i>"What do anarchists do?"</i></a>).
<p>
So, when reading this section please remember that this is not a blueprint
but only one possible suggestion of what anarchy would look like. It is
designed to provoke thought and indicate that an anarchist society is
possible and that such a society is the product of our activity in the
here and now. We hope that our arguments and ideas presented in this
section will inspire more debate and discussion of how a free society
could work and, equally as important, help to inspire the struggle that
will create that society. After all, anarchists desire to build the new world
in the shell of the old. Unless we have some idea of what that new society
will be like it is difficult to pre-figure it in our activities today! A point
not lost on Kropotkin who argued that it is difficult to <i>"build"</i> <i>"without
extremely careful consideration beforehand, based on the study of social
life, of <b>what</b> and <b>how</b> we want to build -- we must reject [Proudhon's]
slogan [that <i>"in demolishing we shall build"</i>] . . . and declare: 'in building
we shall demolish.'"</i> [<b>Conquest of Bread</b>, p. 173f] More recently, Noam Chomsky argued that <i>"[a]lternatives to existing forms of hierarchy, domination,
private power and social control certainly exist in principle. . . But to
make them realistic will require a great deal of committed work, including
the work of articulating them clearly."</i> [Noam Chomsky, <b>Turning the Tide</b>,
p. 250] This section of the FAQ can be considered as a contribution to
the articulating of libertarian alternatives to existing society, of want
we want to build for the future.
<p>
In other words, view this section of our FAQ as a guide. To use an
analogy, when going on holiday it is a good idea to have a map or
guidebook with you, otherwise you will not know where you are
going and, indeed, will likely end up <b>in the wrong place.</b> Thus
the progress towards a free society is helped by anarchist ideas
and visions, otherwise it may end up the opposite of what we desire.
However, it us important that any such guide be discussed by everyone
before hand, to ensure that it is a <b>useful</b> guide and one that
reflects everyone's interests and desires. Thus this section of
our FAQ is simply a contribution to this discussion, a contribution
inspired (in part) by previous contributions, visions and struggles.
<p>
We are not afraid that many will argue that much of the vision we present
in this section of the FAQ is utopian. Perhaps they are right, but, as
Oscar Wilde once said:
<p><blockquote>
<i>"A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at,
for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And
when Humanity lands there, it looks out and, seeing a better country, sets
sail. Progress is the realisation of Utopias."</i> [<b>The Soul of Man Under
Socialism</b>, p. 1184]
</blockquote><p>
However, we have attempted to be a practical as we are visionary, presenting
realistic problems as well as presenting evidence for our solutions to these
problems (as well as our general ideas) from real life where possible, rather
than present a series of impossible assumptions which dismiss possible
problems by definition. After all, it is better to consider the worse
possible cases for if they do not appear then nothing has been lost and
if they do at least we have a starting point for possible solutions. So,
all in all, we have tried to be practical utopians!
<p>
We must stress, however, that anarchists do not want a <i>"perfect"</i> society
(as is often associated with the term <i>"utopia"</i>). This would be as impossible
as the neo-classical vision of perfect competition. Rather we want a free
society and so one based on real human beings and so one with its
own problems and difficulties. Our use of the word <i>"utopia"</i> should not
be taken to imply that anarchists assume away all problems and argue
that an anarchist society would be ideal and perfect. No society has ever
been perfect and no society ever will be. All we argue is that an anarchist
society will have fewer problems than those before and be better to live
within. Anyone looking for perfection should look elsewhere. Anyone
looking for a better, but still human, world may find in anarchism a
potential end for their quest.
<p>
One last point. We must point out here that we are discussing the social
and economic structures of areas within which the inhabitants are
predominately anarchists. It is obviously the case that areas in which
the inhabitants are not anarchists will take on different forms depending
upon the ideas that dominate there. Hence, assuming the end of the current
state structure, we could see anarchist communities along with statist
ones (capitalist or socialist) and these communities taking different
forms depending on what their inhabitants want -- communist to individualist
communities in the case of anarchist ones, state socialist to private state
communities in the statist areas, ones based on religious sects and so
on. As Malatesta argued, anarchists <i>"must be intransigent in our opposition
to all capitalist imposition and exploitation, and tolerant of all social
concepts which prevail in different human groupings, so long as they
do not threaten the equal rights and freedom of others."</i> [<b>Life and Ideas</b>,
p. 174] Thus we respect the wishes of others to experiment and live
their own lives as they see fit, while encouraging those in capitalist
and other statist communities to rise in revolution against their masters
and join the free federation of communes of the anarchist community.
Needless to say, we do not discuss non-anarchist communities here as it
is up to non-anarchists to present their arguments in favour of their
kind of statism. We will concentrate on discussing anarchist ideas
on social organisation here.
<p>
So, remember that we are not arguing that everyone will live in an
anarchist way in a free society. Far from it. There will be pockets
of unfreedom around, simply because the development of ideas varies
from area to area. However, it would be a mistake to assume that just
because there are many choices of community available that it automatically
makes a society an anarchist one. For example, the modern world boasts
over 200 different states. For most of them, individuals can leave and
join another if it will let them. There is no world government as such.
This does not make this series of states an anarchy. Similarly, a system
of different company towns is not an anarchy either. The nature of the
associations is just as important as their voluntary nature. As
Kropotkin argued, the <i>"communes of the next revolution will not only
break down the state and substitute free federation for parliamentary
rule; they will part with parliamentary rule within the commune
itself . . . They will be anarchist within the commune as they
will be anarchist outside it."</i> [<b>The Commune of Paris</b>] Hence an
anarchist society is one that is freely joined and left and is
internally non-hierarchical. Thus anarchist communities may co-exist
with non-anarchist ones but this does <b>not</b> mean the non-anarchist
ones are in any way anarchistic or libertarian.
<p>
When reading this section of the FAQ remember three things. One,
an anarchist society will be created by the autonomous actions of
the mass of the population, not by anarchists writing books about
it. This means a real anarchist society will make many mistakes
and develop in ways we cannot predict. Two, that it is only a
series of suggestions on how things <b>could</b> work in an anarchist
society -- it is <b>not</b> a blueprint of any kind. Three, that we
recognise that anarchist areas will probably co-exist with
non-anarchist areas. This does not make the non-anarchist areas
anarchist and it is up to supporters of hierarchy to present their
own visions of the future. All anarchists can do is present what we
believe and why we think such a vision is both desirable <b>and</b> viable.
<p>
We hope that our arguments and ideas presented in this section of the
FAQ will inspire more debate and discussion of how a free society
would work. In addition, and equally as important, we hope it will
help inspire the struggle that will create that society. After all,
anarchists desire to build the new world in the shell of the old.
Unless we have some idea of what that new society will be like it
is difficult to create it in our activities in the here and now!
<p>
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